Rambler Texas Media acquires Lindale News and Times

After announcing closure of the Lindale News and Times, owner Jim Bardwell decided to turn over the newspaper’s intellectual properties to Rambler Texas Media, Texas’ original nonprofit, 501 (c) (3), paid circulation community newspaper.

John and Stacey Starkey built and ran Rambler Newspapers for 20 years, until changes in the industry forced them to seek a different business model. According to Stacey Starkey, Rambler Texas Media grew out of Rambler Newspapers, a weekly newspaper serving Irving, Coppell, and Grand Prairie in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

“We relinquished ownership and became board members,” she wrote in a column published Sept. 19, the first new edition of the Lindale News and Times. “Rambler Texas Media received its 501 (c) (3) status from the IRS and started operations in January 2023. We believe the nonprofit model is the only reasonable way for community newspapers to continue. We are bringing this model to Lindale with the sincere desire to prevent the city from becoming a news desert.”

Not-for-profit does not mean the newspaper does not need to make a profit, Starkey noted. “Like most businesses, we have staff members and overhead. It means the paper is owned by the community and governed by a board. The profit made by the newspaper does not go to the owner. All profits are returned to the newspaper to help build and improve it for the community.”

Starkey also noted the newspaper’s continued success depends on community support, including subscriptions and advertising.

“If businesses and corporate citizens advertise and donate to the paper, if regular people buy and subscribe to the paper, we can build the Lindale News and Times into an exemplary Texas newspaper,” Starkey wrote.

She invited readers, civic groups, churches and other community groups to submit information about upcoming events. “If you send photos and information about your events to the newspaper, it will help the paper reflect your community,” she explained.

Former owner Bardwell announced the closure in the newspaper’s Aug. 29 edition, citing declining advertising revenues and rising expenses such as mailing costs and printing. The newspaper’s history spans more than 100 years serving the community, covering local events, schools and sports and serving as a watchdog reporting on government agencies.

Bardwell said it had  been a privilege for the news team to do its part in keeping Lindale residents informed, but the team has been faced with an unfortunate “economic reality.”